Les Tueurs noirs de l'empereur fou

It ain't Kurosawa (or even Hideo Gosha), but "Shogun's Ninja" wasn't aimed at that sort of audience. This film is a wacky, blood-spurting, action-packed feast for the eyes, and on its own terms it works beautifully. While reference is made to real historical figures and events, the emphasis is on over-the-top fighting (mostly with weapons, but there's the occasional empty-hand confrontation, too). The tone of the film is completely unreal: it may look like feudal Japan, but the setting is actually some alternate dimension in which fighters can do everything but fly, where warring ninja clans wage their battles in the treetops of lush enchanted forests, and where it doesn't seem even remotely odd when Hiroyuki Sanada, grieving over the deaths of his comrades, suddenly breaks into a torch-twirling interpretive dance. This kind of unbridled goofiness would become commonplace in action films of the '80s, and in "Shogun's Ninja" you can see the new, extravagant aesthetic taking shape as the decade began.

Sanada is a credible hero, Chiba mostly plays it straight as the villain (just as he had the previous year in Gosha's "Hunter in the Dark"), and Etsuko Shihomi is her usual winsome, martially astute self. Six and a half stars.

... well, if it weren't for Sonny Chiba himself! Good, nobody ever put Chiba amongst the great Shakespearian actors (unlike his protégé and star Hiroyuki Sanada). Let's just say he employed less acting skill than Gregory Peck in 'The Omen' (were ol' Peck at least raised an eyebrow now and again) and Monica Belluci (who may be anything - a fine looking young lady - but not an actor). Fact is, Chiba doesn't act at all! He's simply there in the picture! Not so much as a facial twitch throughout the entire movie! Granted, Japanese heroes are to be cool. See 'The Last Samurai' ... hell, cooler than 'Shack' and Ryan O'Neal put into a bag. But for his role as 'Shogun', Chiba may well have been lobotomized! Second 'Minus' of the film: the horrid dance-sequence of Hiroyuki Sanada, which may well haunt this fine actor to the end of his career. God, if only I had fallen asleep during this sequence and never perceived it at all! But no, there it is, burned right into my memory and causing me to break out into insane giggles during the final battle of 'Last Samurai' ...

Then there is the terrible, terrible pseudo-Jazz score, that would have made many-a Porn flick look earnest --- if only the producers would have take a hint from 'Shoguns Assassin', but no ...

... apart from all that, the film would have actually been worth viewing ...

... WOULD have, I say!

Sonny Chiba plays the shogun in pre-Edo period Japan. He's a bad mofo who eliminates a rival clan and then turns on his master to take over as shogun. Despite this, he fails to kill the rival clan's son who escapes to China and comes back to avenge his family. The kid learns martial arts and carries with him swords that contain a map to the clan's secret gold mine (hence everyone wants to kill him to get them). There was some good karate action in this flick. It's kind of cool to see Sonny play the bad guy and even fight a ninja named Hattori Hanzo (fans of Kill Bill should love this one).

My problems with the movie are that it was the same damn plot all over again and the music. I expect bad music in some of these things, but it sounds like 70s porn music. The action sequences were kind of cool, but they have this crappy slap-bass, fake jazz sh*t in the background, so the tension isn't a high as it should be. I dunno, maybe the actual Japanese release had a better soundtrack. The other thing that threw me off was watching the hero dance around a fire. What the hell? It seemed like he was trying to do tai chi, but it looked more like Tommy Tune warming up for some big Broadway production. You don't look like a hard ass when you're spinning and leaping about.

Despite all of this, Chiba fans should enjoy his performance. As per usual, Sonny is the glue holding this thing together.

This is truly one of the coolest Ninja movies of all times. The stunts are top-notch and the action is non-stop. As usual in these films it gets pretty campy indeed, but on a whole it´s out standing. Watch out for hilarious stunts when our hero blocks arrows, Ninjas climb trees as vigorously as Spiderman and digging through the ground as moles. This is the film that made me want to become a Ninja as a kid and it leaves Sho Kosugi way behind. A must-see for any lover of martial arts and action!

First time i saw it i didn't like it,since that time i was a kid who was into Kung Fu movies where there are fighting all the time which in this film there aren't so much hand to hand fighting scenes(just a few).

But years later i digged this movie just to watch it again since it was long time ago and i experienced a great film with nice story and nice stunts and Henry Sanada is great in that movie,seeing him is like seeing Bruce Lee.

Please see it its great,japanese ninja films rules!